72 The late Dr. Kane. 



hope shall ever be so accomplished as it should have been by one, 

 who united in himself the power of accurate observation, of logi- 

 cal deduction, of broad generalization, and of pictorial and poetic 

 representation. But the friends of Christianity cannot regret, that 

 since it was the mysterious decree of Heaven that he should pre- 

 maturely fall, — his work as a pure Geologist not half done, — he 

 should have been led aside by the publication of the Yestiges of 

 Creation to that track of semi-theological, semi-scientific research 

 to which his later studies and later writings have been devot- 

 ed. That, as it now seems to us, was the great work which it 

 was given him on earth to do, — to illustrate the perfect harmony 

 of all that science tells us of \h% physical structure and history of 

 our globe, with all that the Bible tells of the creation and govern- 

 ment of this earth by and through Christ Jesus our Lord. The 

 establishment and exhibition of that harmony was a task for which, 

 is it too much to say, that there was no man living so competent 

 as he? We leave it to the future to declare how much he has 

 done by his writings to fulfil that task; but mourning, as we now 

 can only do, over his sad and melancholy death, — to that very 

 death, with all the tragic circumstances that surround it, we 

 would point as the closing sacrifice offered on the altar of our 

 faith. His very intellect, his reason, — God's most precious gift, — 

 a gift dearer than life, — perished in the great endeavour to harmo- 

 nize the works and word of the Eternal. A most inscrutable 

 event, that such an intellect should have been suffered to go to 

 wreck through too eager a prosecution of such work. But amid 

 the mystery, which we cannot penetrate, our love, and our vene- 

 ration, and our gratitude, toward that so highly gifted and truly 

 Christian man shall only grow the deeper because of the cloud and 

 the whirlwind in which he has been borne off from our side." 



The Late Dr. Kane. — At a late special meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Geographical Society in New York, the President, the Kevd. 

 Francis L. Hawks, D. D., paid the following beautiful tribute to the 

 memory of the late much lamented Dr. Kane. 



Gentlemen of the Society: It becomes my sad duty, as your 

 presiding officer, to bring to your notice the removal, by death, of 

 one of our most distinguished associates. Our friend. Dr. Kane, 

 is no more. I knew him intimately, and the strong bond of our 

 personal friendship, while he lived, prompts me to solicit your in- 



